On being kissable...

I had a bad experience when I was sixteen and again when I was nineteen. I probably should have known better the second time around. But I really don't understand why it still goes on probably millions of times a day around the world.

Just two days ago, my roommate and I were in the gym and I see this guy working out, and this guy is flipping huge, but he had this weird look on his face. I kept pretending to watch the TV on the wall and sneaking glances (because you can get killed for staring at another guy at the gym). Finally I saw the spit cub on the ground. I put two and two together. Sour look + lip bulge + spit cup = Chewing Tobacco. When I figured it out I was really surprised. Do people really still do that? In the suburbs of Chicago? In a gym?

Sure enough, on my way to work I stopped at the BP and went inside to pay because I know the lady that works there. Three out of four of the people in front of me in line bought either chew or cigarettes (at like $6 a pack no less). I really don't get it! It makes me so confused that I'm angry about it.

For just about as long as the tobacco and alcohol industry has been in business they lean on the fact that 1. Their product is addictive. 2. Sex appeal. Every cigarette and beer add is aimed at telling people that being drunk and dragging a cigarette will make you look sophisticated and sexy. This has not been my experience. How is putting tobacco in your lip and spitting out what looks like mud into a cup every 30 seconds sexy? How is making your clothes and my clothes and your hair smell bad sexy? When I lived in MO, the first time I saw a girl spit tobacco juice out of her mouth, a shiver ran down my spine and I vomited in my mouth a little.

See when I was 16 I kissed a girl that was smoking. Don't judge me. I was at a dance club. I didn't know her, I didn't expect it. It was not hot. I almost threw up in her mouth. Again, when I was 19 the date I was with smoked a cigarette two hours ago, chewed gum, and put on perfume. When I kissed her all I could taste and smell was cigarette.

So I don't understand. In the Chicagoland area they are making it illegal to smoke in restaurants, city parks, your car, and get this... bars. Tobacco prices are through the roof. You get cancer from chew and cigarettes (or fags as the British call them). They make girls smell and taste like campfire ashes.

WHY IS THIS STILL GOING ON?